Three Revolutions Have Equaleda Transformation in Snowboarding

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. - Halfpipe snowboarding is the rare professional sport in which athletes perform to popular music and public-address announcers narrate moves as they are being made.

While competitors career down the ramp, a D.J. spins hip-hop beats and an excitable announcer shouts the names of every different trick -- Crippler! Stale Fish! Melon Poke! The titles can sound as if they come from comic books.

But there is one trick that needs no goofy name or hyperactive introduction. When the announcer relays it, his voice tends to drop a decibel. Ten-eighty is all he needs to say. Everyone at a snowboarding competition seems to know what that means.

The 1080 is the most powerful move in snowboarding, a 1,080-degree spin that separates Olympic contenders from Olympic wannabes. Anybody who can make the requisite three revolutions in midair could wind up on the podium in Turin, Italy. Anybody who cannot is probably going to need some more lift.

Like many aspects of snowboarding, the 1080 did not exist five years ago. Those who could do the 900 -- two and a half revolutions -- were considered the most aerodynamic riders. But in this sport, with fashions changing from winter to winter, the degrees of difficulty are constantly being enhanced.

Now, there are riders doing reverse 1080's, doing back-to-back 1080's, grabbing their boards while they do 1080's. There are video games called 1080 Snowboarding and 1080 Avalanche. It is not uncommon to hear of a snowboarder winning an event on the strength of a 1080. With an estimated 25 percent of men's professional halfpipers incorporating the 1080 into their routines, it has become known around the pipe as the 10.

To execute a perfect 10, a snowboarder rises high off the lip of the ramp and starts to spin furiously in the air. Some keep their bodies vertical the entire time. Most go horizontal, looking like human corkscrews. At the end, a rider must regain his bearings and steady the board for a smooth landing. Even the best pros, overcome by a sudden dizzy spell, sometimes drop their gloves on the snow to balance themselves.

"Man, I hate that trick," said Shaun White, a favorite to make the Olympic halfpipe team. "There are times when you're just spinning and you totally lose track of where you are. You don't know where you're going to land. You only hope you're still in the pipe."

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The 1080 cannot score many points for creativity. Because it takes so long to make three revolutions, little time is left for somersaults or back flips -- the kind of flourishes that snowboarding so often celebrates. Many riders prefer more aesthetic tricks like McTwists or Cabs, but they feel 1,080 degrees of pressure to keep up with the latest trend.

At the first Olympic qualifier for the halfpipe, on Dec. 14 at Breckenridge, the top three finishers executed at least one successful 1080. First place went to White. Ross Powers, a 1080 pioneer, was second. Scott Lago, who last December could not do a 1080 and therefore might not have been able to compete for an Olympic berth, was third.

"I remember thinking last year that you had to do a 1080 to win," Lago said. "Everyone had to learn it, so I went to New Zealand over the summer, and I learned it."

Among the first riders to master the 1080 were Powers and Danny Kass, who perfected it before the 2002 Olympics. By no coincidence, Powers won the gold medal in the halfpipe in Salt Lake City and Kass won the silver. Doing the 1080 showed that they could catch more air than many of their competitors and torque their bodies with greater ease. "Now, everyone has stepped it up," Powers said.

The last time snowboarders were getting ready for an Olympics, some of them joked that they cared more about the X Games. They were still uncertain if the Olympic stage suited their untraditional style. But since Powers and Kass landed their 1080's, snowboarding has embraced the Olympics and vice versa. This winter, riders are pulling out their most death-defying tricks for qualifying events.

As commonplace as the 1080 has become in the men's draw, no professional women's rider is believed to have attempted it in competition. Hannah Teter, who won the first women's Olympic qualifier for the halfpipe, also at Breckenridge on Dec. 14, may be the best bet to give it a spin. She can already land the 900 with relative ease and is daring enough to try another revolution. "I'm thinking about it," she said.

Considering how quickly this sport evolves, she may have to hurry. Soon enough, the 1080 will probably be as passé as the 900, something to do before showing off the really big moves. Perhaps the 1260 is one Olympics away.